Thankful Thursday: Land of Medicine Buddha

Being in nature helps to calm the everyday thinking mind, with its restless concerns and perennial planning. Likewise, the body feels more at ease outdoors, and the heart begins to open to and resonate with the peace, silence, and stillness of the natural world. –From Awake in the Wild, by Mark Coleman 


I can’t begin to recount all the treasures I brought home with me from Land of Medicine Buddha, but here’s a handful of gems from my vast collection: hiking among the giant redwoods…savoring a late-night concert in a fresh-mown meadow…howling coyotes roosters crowing…swapping secrets with special friends…reveling in the sounds of silence…seeking clarity beneath the fog-shrouded moon and stars…turning upside-down and inside-out in yoga sessions…sensing Oneness…and always, always coming back to the breath.

 

Somewhere, somebody once said, “It is the I behind the eye that sees.” So true, and I admit in humbleness that my own field of vision is limited. Nevertheless, I hope these pictures reveal in some small way the magnificence of this past weekend.

Site Meter

56 Comments

  5. Beautiful !

    What a soul-filling time you had there & the Peace – beautiful.

    thanks for sharing [ & I’m impressed with how you could put it on LJ in a slideshow =) ]

    –LiZ

  7. I feel more calm just looking at those images. What a gorgeous place. I’m so happy you made that time for yourself and fed your soul. Thank you for sharing with us (I’m so intrigued by that green plant with the yellow-green leaves curling up over the little blossom-thing. I keep staring at it.)

    Off to do my morning yoga…

    • That’s a champaca tree, Tracy. The flowers have a heavenly fragrance. I had one in my backyard until this past spring. Unfortunately, it didn’t thrive in its clay soil surroundings.

      Hope you have/had a restful, restorative yoga session. Ommm. xo

    • I’ve only discovered yoga very recently, and though I wish I’d learned about it earlier, I think I appreciate it in a different way than I would have previously.

      Your icon says it all: Balance. It’s such a gift, isn’t it? Always available to us, if/when we choose to take advantage…

    • I’ve only discovered yoga very recently, and though I wish I’d learned about it earlier, I think I appreciate it in a different way than I would have previously.

      Your icon says it all: Balance. It’s such a gift, isn’t it? Always available to us, if/when we choose to take advantage…

  16. Wow! What a beautiful place to let nature do her magic and feed your soul. I love the shot of the path through the overhanging branches. Thank you for giving us a peek into your weekend… and no, judging by these photos your own field of vision is far from limited, Melodye.

    I have found that Buddhism and Native American beliefs are very much alike… they seem to be intertwined in their thinking. Your photos reminded me of two of my favorite quotes from Luther Standing Bear, an Oglala Sioux.

    I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things, was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.

    The elders were wise. They knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things, soon led to lack of respect for humans

    • That’s an exquisite quote, Sharon. Thank you for sharing it with me! I know very little about Buddhism, but I discovered many aspects of it this weekend that really resonated with me. I can certainly see how it might intersect with Native American beliefs…

      I so wish you could have been there, but I’m glad you were able to experience The Land of Medicine Buddha with me in spirit.

      • Oops, I think you’re talking about the first quote I had up there. I’ll re-post it.

        I would have loved to have been there with you to partake of nature’s beauty.

        What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. – Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator

    • That’s an exquisite quote, Sharon. Thank you for sharing it with me! I know very little about Buddhism, but I discovered many aspects of it this weekend that really resonated with me. I can certainly see how it might intersect with Native American beliefs…

      I so wish you could have been there, but I’m glad you were able to experience The Land of Medicine Buddha with me in spirit.

    • Welcome, new friend! Thanks for stopping by to share my adventure with me. 🙂

      It’s a long way from Oklahoma, but I’ll bet you can find something equally beautiful where you live. Everybody needs/deserves an escape now and again…

  19. Oh Melodye… I think you’re right. It looks like I would absolutely love everything about that place. It looks entirely magical. Wow. Seriously wow. I’ve never heard of it before. Does one have to practice yoga to partake of such beauty?

    • No, you don’t have to practice yoga or Buddhism or anything like that. Those are just some of their many offerings. The place is available to all comers. You might enjoy poking around their website, see what interests you. Hiking trails…seminars…meditations…the options seem limited only by your “free” time, curiosity, and imagination.

      • Oh I could seriously get into the hiking trails and meditation… those would be sheer bliss I think. I really do need to check that place out. I am quite sure I’d fall in love with it. Thank you for the heads up and again for the photos.

        I’d do the yoga but I’m just not *that* flexible! lol….

    • No, you don’t have to practice yoga or Buddhism or anything like that. Those are just some of their many offerings. The place is available to all comers. You might enjoy poking around their website, see what interests you. Hiking trails…seminars…meditations…the options seem limited only by your “free” time, curiosity, and imagination.

    • Lorraine!!! I was just typing a response to Kevin, and here you are…hurray for synchronicity!

      It was so wonderful there. You would have loved it! I thought about you and your lovely family, smiling so broadly in those vacation pictures you shared last week. I’ll bet my smiles were just as broad when I was hiking, meditating, and doing yoga poses in the great outdoors. 🙂

Comments are closed.